The Roman Road, Step Two

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23  There seems to be some confusion and mixed feelings about the subject of death. Some people don't want to talk about it at all. Others are quite flippant, as if it's no big deal.  A. There's a lot of humor around the subject of death. For example:  1. A hearse reached the entrance to the cemetery at the top of a hill, passing over a speed bump. Its back door flew open and out came the coffin, still on its carriage with rollers. The coffin headed downhill, in the middle of the street, gathering speed as it went.  As it reached the bottom of the hill, it was heading directly for the front doors of a drugstore. The coffin sailed through the doors and through the store, straight to the pharmacy counter at the rear.  The startled pharmacist watched with alarm as the coffin slammed into his counter, the lid popped open and up sat the corpse who said, "Hey, Mac ! Ya got anything to stop this coffin?"  2. Do you remember the chant you used to repeat when you were a child?  Don't you ever laugh as a hearse goes by  For you may be the next to die,  They wrap you up in a big white sheet  From your head down to yur feet.  They put you in a big black box  And cover you up with dirt and rocks.  All goes well for about a week Then your coffin begins to leak.  The worms crawl in the worms crawl out The worms play pinochle on your snout.  They eat your eyes they eat your nose They eat the jelly between your toes.  A big green worm with rolling eyes Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.  Your stomach turns a slimy green A pus pours out like whipping cream.  You spread it on a slice of bread  And that is what you eat when you are dead!  3. Then there are all those Saint Peter jokes.  Three people from different parts of the country passed away at the same time. All were met at the gates by St. Peter. The first was an architect from California. Peter said, "You've built beautiful buildings and served men on earth, but before you come in you have to pass one small test, spell 'God'". "G-O-D," replied the architect and St. Peter waved him through.  The second person to approach was a rancher from Texas. Peter looked at him and said, "You've served man upon the earth by providing food through the cattle you've raised but before you come in there's just one small test, spell 'GOD'". "G-O-D", said the rancher and Peter waved him through.  The third person was an attractive businesswoman from New York. Peter said, "You've served the world of commerce, but before you come in you'll have to pass one small test." At this the woman interrupted, "Oh come on now Saint," said the woman, "I've had to fight for every promotion I've ever gotten. I've had to take lower pay for the same job as a male colleague, and I've been continually harassed by bosses and peers for one reason, my gender. And now here I am and you're giving me a hard time too; what kind of test? Let's get it over with."  Peter thought for a moment and said, "Spell Czechoslovakia"      B. But for those who do take this subject a little more seriously, there are several main ways of thinking about death.  1. For the Eastern religions, like Hinduism, there is the belief that we are caught in a cycle of life, we leave one form of life to come back around in another.  2. Many believe that death is simply the end of life - extinction, annihilation.  3. But for others, death is the beginning of a new, and hopefully better life.  Some time ago during the Wednesday evening meeting I read from a letter written by a friend who had been diagnosed as having cancer. Ferne Murray had just turned 80 years old. She had been a widow for many years, after watching her husband suffer 12 years with Parkinson's disease before his death. Now she was dying of cancer in the liver, pancreas and ducts. This is what she wrote, "I have no fear of death. I know where I'm going and have looked forward to it all my life. I have a husband and numerous relatives and friends 'over there.' 'For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.' God has never promised us a life without a 'cross.' If a person whines and complains in adversity, they haven't read all the Word. We spiritually grow by our trials."      C. If you read and believe the Bible, Christian teaching on this is very clear. Death is to be experienced by everyone, and there are may ways death is experienced. Physical death is the moment when the soul and spirit departs, leaving the body lifeless. Note that this is not the same as merely the stopping of brain waves. But we believe that the soul of man lives on beyond the moment when the soul leaves the body. What happens next is also clearly taught in the Scripture. Those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ immediately are ushered into the presence of the Lord.  1. We recall the testimony of the Apostle of Paul, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. On the other hand, those who have not been forgiven, will not be received into heaven. After the last great judgment, they will be thrown into the lake of fire along with Satan and his angels." 2 Corinthians 5:8  2. How well I remember Bob and Barbara. Bob was a simple man, very hard working, although not able to read or write. That is until he became a Christian. It was at that time that his desire to read the Bible became a passion, and miraculously he learned to do what he had failed to do during the nearly 50 years of his life prior to conversion. And as a result of his growth as a Christian, Bob became reunited with the wife he had divorced many years before. About two years later this couple was hosting a home Bible Study meeting when someone asked the question, "What happens to a Christian at the moment of their death? Do they fall asleep? Do they have go to some kind of waiting room until Christ returns to the earth?" It was Barbara who was quick to reply from this Scripture, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Later other members of the group would remember that as Barbara spoke, there was a glow about her, a radiance. At 5 a.m. the next morning I was awakened by a call from Bob telling me that his wife Barbara had died in her sleep. It was as if she knew, and was ready. A few hours after quoting this important truth from the Bible, Babara was given the opportunity to experience the reality.      D. So we believe that death is a reality, and it leads somewhere. If what the Bible says is true, then we can't neglect this subject. "The wages of sin is death."  1. Genesis 2:16,17 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."  2. Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--  3. Ezekiel 18:20, 21 - The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.  4. "But," someone might say, "when Adam sinned, he didn't die." No, he was expelled from the Garden, no longer to have intimate fellowship with God. And although he didn't immediately die a physical death, he ultimately did. But the loss of Adam's relationship with God as a result of his disobedience was his immediate death. That's why Paul says, "You were dead in trespasses and sins."      E. Going back to Romans 6:23, the Greek word for "wages" is "opsonion" = compensation, wages, pay, support.  At first it referred to "whatever is bought to be eaten with bread". Then it came to mean "corn, meat, fruits, salt given to soldiers instead of pay", then finally, a soldier's pay, allowance, or what one gets in return for his labor. This can be seen in Luke 3:14 - Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." The same idea is conveyed in I Corinthians 9:7 - Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?      Conclusion: Does sin pay? Yes, but what you get at the end of the day is lousy; it's death. First comes death of God - yes, He is dead to you. Then comes death to other relationships, families break down, friendships get destroyed. Then comes the physical death, and finally eternal death.  If we work for sin, the pay check has written across it the word "death".  Is that what we want?  Of course the rest of the verse tells us that even as death is the result of sin, so life is the result of a gift from God, a "charismata", or a "gift of grace."  The choice is ours, death or life. - - Return to Top of this Page - Email a Link to this Page - Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List - - Download This Sermon This Page's Title Is: Your Name Is: Your Email Address Is: Your State and Country: Please identify your vocation: Senior Pastor. Associate Pastor. Youth Pastor. Lay Minister. Church Member. Which section of this site would you most likely return to? 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